


When is it called Love?

by InterPlanetaryGirl



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: All of this is kind of a mess caused by Eros, Cuties, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, It's sweet, Jason is a mother hen, Kinda, M/M, Melinoe and Macaria are good sisters too, Nico is a Dork, Nico is a siren, Nico sleeps a lot, Percy is an even bigger dork, Quests, Slight Misunderstandings, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, hades is a good dad, they kiss, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 05:19:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7301044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterPlanetaryGirl/pseuds/InterPlanetaryGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As he came closer to the top, he could hear the voices speaking.<br/>"I mean, I guess so?" he could hear Percy, it was definitely Percy, say.<br/>"You only guess? Well my dear boy, would you like to tell me when there was ever a more glorious sunrise than this? I made this one specially for you, knowing that you would have the perfect spot to view it from." Apollo told him indignantly, but Percy snorted.<br/>"Yeah, the perfect spot." he said dryly, moving his wrists on either side to produce a clanking sound from the chains attached to either of them.<br/>"Chin up now," Apollo laughed, "your hero is here to save you."<br/>"Oh thank god." Percy breathed a sigh of relief, Nico could hear clearly now as he pulled himself up to the ledge, grasping at anything he could that was secure. That thing, being Percy's leg.<br/>****<br/>It's not really a curse, more than it is challenges for them to go through, unnecessary or not, and the gods help....kind of</p>
            </blockquote>





	When is it called Love?

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I haven't written anything in a while, and this is the first time I've ever written percico where it was the main pairing so please let me know what you thought and if I made many mistakes or made them too ooc, okay, thank you, please enjoy.

  
Nico wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to be doing here. In the sense that, Percy had suggested they go down to the sea and spend some time there. In all honesty Nico was bored, because he didn't know what he was supposed to do while waiting for Percy, who claimed he would only be a few minutes. Yet it had been nearly half an hour, and he was bored and starting to feel something similar to humiliation, at the thought of being abandoned though there was, really, no reason to think that. Aside from the fact Percy had yet to return that is.

He was getting ready to leave, as one would as it crept closer to being forty-five minutes that Percy was gone, when he sighed and picked up his jacket from where it lay beside him on the rocks. Of course, there would never be a logical, seemingly, reason as to why Percy had not returned. And when he turned to climb up the steps and back to camp, he was met by this illogical reason. Immediately, Nico is on his guard and, essentially, prepared for battle. It was instinct, especially after his last encounter with the god of love.  
  
"Good evening, Nico," the god smiled, and Nico narrowed his eyes in suspicion and took several deep breaths.  
  
"What do you want?" Nico asked harshly, and the god faked offence at his tone of voice, making several hand gestures and a facial expression to express his over-exaggerated hurt.

"I was merely wondering how you were doing this evening. I sensed something and now it's gone." The god stuck his lower lip out in show of his sympathy for the ghost king.  
  
"Of course it is, you're here," Nico told him with a slight, humourless laugh. "Now, get out of my way while I return to my cabin." Nico went to shove the god aside, but it wasn't so easy as the god seemed to be rooted to the floor. So he tried to walk around, only to be stopped as the god placed an arm out to stop him.

"Do you not wish to know where your loverboy went?" The god asked this innocently, making something in Nico's stomach drop at the thought of what happened to Percy.  
  
"He's not my 'loverboy', as you put it. He probably just forgot I was here by getting distracted by something." There was a shrug, somewhere in that sentence, and Nico looked down at the ground.  
  
"Oh, but he is. If only the two of you could see eye to eye," the god sighed, "perhaps then the two of you would face up to your feelings."  
  
"What feelings? I already faced mine thanks to you and he has nothing to face." The god tutted at this response.  
  
"So little hope, my sweet little friend." Nico recoiled in disgust slightly at the term. "Come, I shall show you where it is you need to go." The god still had his arm on Nico and so the next thing he knew, Nico was stood in the town square in a place he didn't know, with a language he could barely recognise.  
  
All around him people were bustling about, it was clearly a market, what with all the stalls and such, but now Nico didn't know where he was supposed to go as the god had simply abandoned him here with no instructions and no knowledge of any kind. Of course, this kind of thing had happened while learning to shadow travel, but it was so sunny and bright that he had no idea of where to look to try and see the shadows. So, instead, he took to wandering around the square. With no kind of money on him, he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do other than look around and wait for it to grow darker so that he could get home.

It seemed like something out of a fairy tale, in the sense that he was in a town where everything was cobblestones and the houses seemed to be made of quality that was less than usual. The houses he passed, or at least, he assumed they were houses, were made to be more like cottages but to a smaller standard. And in after walking around some time, he ended at the other side of the town, where there was a fountain, seemingly ancient though it still worked, filled with coins. For some time, he waited there, trying to think of something that he could do, waiting until it got darker. He had no idea what time it was, and he was afraid to ask as he couldn't speak the language. He had passed the clock tower in the town several times, yet it said the same time each time he passed it, so he assumed it was broken. However he knew that time was passing due to the position of the sun in the sky and how the town was becoming less packed with people the more he walked.

Once the sun had almost set completely he walked towards one of the stands and tried walking towards the shadow. Except, the shadow was doing nothing and he could not seem to channel it's energy in the way that he usually would. So he simply walked past, and around, trying to make it seem as though he was just passing through, though he walked towards each shadow he could, that would be big enough for him to travel through. None of it worked. He couldn't shadow travel. He realised it must have been part of being placed here by Eros, and he cursed the god silently, though he knew the god would most likely hear.

Instead, he went down a small passageway he had seen earlier in the evening, to find a beach, similar to that at camp half-blood, and he walked down. It was the only familiar thing around here and he appreciated that, somewhere in his mind, it was more of a sense of routine than anything. So he sat on the sand, close enough to the water that he could reach out his hand to touch it, but not close enough that he got covered in water every time the tide came in. It was nice, and relaxing, and he appreciated it's beauty more so.

Once the sun was finally set, he was unsure of what to do at all. It wasn't as though he could rent out a hotel, easily at least, and he couldn't shadow travel either. So...he was in a bit of a difficult situation. Instead of actually doing anything, he sat on the sand and prayed silently to both Poseidon and his own father, that Percy would find him soon, or vice versa, and they could go home. How, was still unknown to him if he didn't have his powers back by morning, but at least if they were together they could come up with something.

By the time it was somewhere in the middle of the night, Nico fell asleep without realising. However, he was woken when an unexpectedly large wave crashed over him, soaking his clothes and causing him to shake, despite the still high temperatures which luckily carried on throughout the night. So, instead of complaining so much due to fatigue, he simply moved back onto the rocks and removed his shirt, with the hope to wake before the beach was filled with people because, well, that would just be embarrassing.

Luckily, his wish comes true and he only sleeps a couple more hours before waking up, as the sun is beginning to peak over the front of the ocean. For a brief moment, once the light was making everything clear, he was sure that he could see Lord Apollo in his Maserati stopping a little way down on...what appeared to be a rock? There was nothing particuarly special about it, but he stopped there, sat down for a moment and, as Nico looked closer, he could only just see him talking. It appeared. So Nico walked closer to the ocean, beginning to wade through it with a look of disgust on his face from the inconvenience of wading through water in his converse, after being so rudely woken in a similar manner late last night. But no matter.  
  
Nico was up to his thighs in water before he realised that Apollo was in fact there, and he was talking to somebody who was stood (albeit seemingly uncomfortably) against the rock, on a small ledge. It occurred to Nico that it was most likely Percy, but he knew they were too far away for him to shout for them. Instead, he closed his eyes and begged his father's forgiveness for his next actions, before praying to, and praising highly, the god of the sea. With the request that he send aid for him so that he can go rescue Percy. It doesn't seem like he's having such an awful time there, but he would most likely prefer to not be stuck in an endless, should Apollo wish, conversation with the sun god.

He was still asking for forgiveness from his father as he sent his pleas to Poseidon, with the hope of being heard. He was, thankfully. However, it didn't seem like perhaps the safest way to travel - by hippocampi - and Nico was partly regretting his decision since he didn't know how to control him. (He's guessing it's a him.)

"Out to that rock, uh, please?" he tries, requesting where to go with a little pat on the head. Honestly he had no clue what he was doing and was glad that he was the only one around, but it seemed to work as the hippocampus began to go towards the rock within a matter of seconds of him asking. It was fast, he'll admit, but it was sickeningly fast in a way that made his stomach flip several times and make him extremely happy that he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday in the early afternoon. But he got there, and the rock was tall, so all he could see up were crevices and small holdings where he could get a grip. He thanked the hippocampus as he began climbing up, quite a task for him with such little energy.

As he came closer to the top, he could hear the voices speaking.

"I mean, I guess so?" he could hear Percy, it was definitely Percy, say.

"You only guess? Well my dear boy, would you like to tell me when there was ever a more glorious sunrise than this? I made this one specially for you, knowing that you would have the perfect spot to view it from." Apollo told him indignantly, but Percy snorted.  
  
"Yeah, the perfect spot." he said drily, moving his wrists on either side to produce a clanking sound from the chains attached to either of them.

"Chin up now," Apollo laughed, "your hero is here to save you."

"Oh thank god." Percy breathed a sigh of relief, Nico could hear clearly now as he pulled himself up to the ledge, grasping at anything he could that was secure. That thing, being Percy's leg. Who jumped as far as one could with chains restricting their movement, and let out a very unhero-like yelp before Nico made him aware that it was only him and continued to use Percy's legs as a main source of support, knowing how he couldn't go far.

Once up he stood, realising just how little space there is on the ledge with how close he was pushed against Percy, but told himself to hide his embarrassment as it was necessary for him to release Percy's chains. Which, as it turns out, was simply a button and no key or force was needed. It was strategically placed so that the son of Poseidon couldn't get to it himself, but anybody else was able to fairly easily.

Percy rubbed at his wrists, where the chains had left, obvious, red marks, and they were squished together at such close proximity until Apollo clapped his hands together. "Right! Now that's over, I'll take the pair of you back to camp." He announced it as though it was the most simple and obvious thing in the world, yet Nico knew there would be some kind of catch. There had to be. Apollo hadn't changed his car from the one that first pulled up before the two of them and the Hunters seven years ago. A red Maserati Spyder. With it's two seats.

"Sorry boys," Apollo told them cheerily as he got into the driver's seat, "one of you will have to sit on the other, as I don't feel like changing the car today. You don't mind, right? Great." The pair stood expectedly for a moment, as if expecting him to start laughing and say he's joking before changing the car into something with at least one more seat. But no. He didn't. So Nico sighed, and gestured for Percy to get in first, all while Apollo simply whistled to himself, as if nothing was strange about the situation. Nico was all prepared to sit on the floor if the situation called for it, but as he was about to step in, then Percy simply grabbed his wrist and pulled it so he was sat on his lap.

"I'd hold onto his waist if I were you," Apollo warned the pair, and Percy wrapped his arms around Nico's waist, keeping him securely in position, full-heartedly listening to Apollo's warning. Which he was right to do.

It wasn't as though Apollo was a dangerous driver, as such, what with all the millennia of experience that he had and all, but he drove fast and he drove hard. And despite the fact they knew they were relatively safe with him, more so at least than with Thalia when she drove, they were being quite rough-handled whilst being driven since Apollo liked to show off his driving skills.

"Isn't this view just great?" Apollo asked, having to almost shout to be heard over the winds. Both Nico and Percy looked down then and they had to agree, seeing the ocean from this height and angle really did seem to give them both a new perspective of it - even Percy who already loved the sea a great amount and it's beauty.

The light reflecting over it though made it more difficult to look at, though they continued to try. They saw a multitude of sea creatures though - some mermaids, a pair of dolphins, more hippocampi, and even a school of fish when they went that close. (Another risky move made by Apollo, as though it was an attempt to sea if he could fry some fish through the water with how much it would heat it, but he in fact assured Percy it was perfectly safe.)

When they arrived at back at camp, it was in fact almost midday, despite the time difference of where they were previously it seemed. The journey took about four hours, and the pair grew quite comfortable in that time, surprising even Nico. Though he suspected that was simply because he became bored of trying to retain his perfect posture, which was starting to hurt anyway, so what would it matter if he leaned back into Percy? If only for a couple of hours.

Their legs were stiff as they got out, needed to stretch to be able to regain full control over them. Especially Percy, who refused to admit how numb his legs went while Nico was sitting on them, despite Nico asking several times if he was okay with him being sat in his lap. Quickly they thanked the sun god before running off back to the pavilion for something to eat because their stomachs had gone numb from not having eaten in nearly twenty four hours.

Most people had left already, but the ones who where there didn't question where they had been or what they'd been doing; Nico wondered briefly if this should concern him but dismissed the thought in favour of eating as much as he was physically able. "In case something happens," is his answer, when Percy asks. Because, knowing Eros, and the gods in general, something is bound to happen and this isn't a one time thing.

Nico's assumption was correct of course, however who was to blame surprised him - as it was his father. He should have known better then to believe Hades hadn't heard him praising Poseidon and begging for his help, quite literally, he just never expected to be called down to his father's thrown room in a dream, only to be told he was not leaving until he had completed a list of chores and learned to better appreciate him and everything he does. When he tries to correct his father, in saying it was a time of need and he needed Poseidon's help, and it was merely to flatter him, that it meant nothing, his father turned a blind eye and waved him out of the thrown room. His shoulders slumped but he did as he was asked.

He was given a list of chores by Alecto, and she laughed manically while giving it to him. First on the list seemed simple enough, he was to take Charon's job for two days and simply escort those with money down the river, otherwise refuse them entry.

Except. Nico kept wanting to give in at every person who couldn't afford to pay their way, especially if they were kind and kept talking to him and telling him stories - that was the older women and men, who had proper stories to tell from adventures they had been on in their lives. And those who could afford to pay their way, often he got a headache from them, because they were rich business men who needed to either brag about how great they were in life, or were in denial of having died, from whatever it may have been that killed them.

Towards the end of the second day, he had in fact being flirted with by a total of five people, three girls and two guys. It wasn't particularly awkward or anything, aside from the fact they were dead and he wasn't, but he had never had anybody flirt so openly with him like that and he just found it strange more than anything. Though, if he was being honest, he wouldn't have been interested in any of them even if he weren't interested in Percy, especially from the stories they told him.

Next on the list was to stand at the gates and tell people whether they were going to stand in the Fields of Asphodel, or Fields of Punishment. Anybody that thought they deserved better he sent them through to the lines which led to judgement, where they were most likely given what they were originally given. _Sucks to them_ , Nico would think, before moving on to the next person. It wasn't so much that he didn't feel bad for them, he just was bored too much now to really care about it.

For another three days, he did this, not complaining once. After the second day, he grew numb to the boredom he faced person after person and it was routine. Something he had grown used to, simply put. Though he did find it strange how not once had somebody tried to contact him. He understood that sometimes he does go off without warning for several days at a time, but somebody would usually always IM him to find out where he was and make sure he was okay and that he had all the supplies and/or money he needed, usually it was Percy, Jason, or Hazel, but Will checked in with him sometimes, or Cecil or Lou Ellen. Anybody. But. Not this time. And, if Nico felt anything, it was the feeling of fear of being left behind or forgotten that was creeping in, getting to him.

On the list next was to look after some newly trained hellhound pups, because though they were trained, there was still very little control held over them. Nevertheless, this was actually one of the most enjoyable parts of this experience so far because they were quite cute, admittedly, and even though he never had a puppy as a child he imagines that this is what it would be like pretty much. That thought brings him comfort.

It was as he was packing up for the day, after an hour of playing with the pups, that he got the shock of his life as commotion started near the entrance- one of them at least. He saw the furies flying over his head and decided it was serious, and so began to run after them after dropping everything in a relatively safe place where it won't cause too much damage. As he got closer, trying to keep a track of the furies through all the ghosts he was running amongst in their almost-partly-solid forms did he begin to hear more of what was causing the commotion. "Where is he?" A voice was yelling, a very familiar voice. "I demand to know!" There was a clashing of swords as Nico got closer which worried him slightly.

Alecto fighting an extremely furious Percy, was the first thing he saw. Well, really, the fury was just commanding the skeleton warriors to "attack more!" and "don't let him win!". So, it wasn't really much, but Percy was having to face more and more of the skeleton warriors by himself until Nico forced the ground to open and basically swallow the skeletons. Causing all eyes to turn to him. As far as he was aware, he had never seen Percy more happy, not once. It was a smug kind of feeling, sort of, though there was confusion mixed in there too.

His father appeared several moments later, the commotion mostly having calmed, and he was glaring between the pair. "What are you doing here." He basically spat at Percy, though not...entirely, as harsh as he may have usually been. Still, it wasn't a question with an expectant answer. Standing his ground, Percy answered with a strong voice, "I came to retrieve Nico, seeing as he has not left in over a month and nobody can contact him in any way."  
  
A month?! It had not seemed nearly as long, merely a week - he was still eating and sleeping regularly, as he thought he should be. But. A month? That seemed unlikely and, even with taking in how time seems to move differently, questionable. Perhaps, Nico thought, his father was correct. That he had not appreciated him and everything he does for, not just Nico, but everything else to do with the dead. More than he previously thought. What, with how lonely he got he barely seemed to notice time passing any longer. Is that how his father felt often? How his father had learned to cope with living? He just ignored time and the changes that occurred without him in the upper world until he is essentially forced from his castle to face his brothers? Even with all the things that had come to pass while Nico was in the Lotus Casino Hotel, since then Nico could barely imagine doing that again, the mere thought gave him horrible chills. And his father dealt with that all the time? Nico could only shake his head.

"Yes," Hades says, snapping Nico from his thoughts, "due to his lack of respect to his own father. Thanks to you, no doubt. Now, if you would kindly leave," though his voice was anything but kind, "Nico has some chores to get back to, isn't that correct?"

"Father, please, I have learnt my lesson and I swear it by the Styx that I will never consider Poseidon a more worthy god than you, and that I never have. I promise to be more considerate and appreciative of all that you do in the world, for the world, and I will do more to help down here - whatever it takes." Nico promised, looking at his father with large, innocent eyes, that still worked as they did when he was slightly younger. Under his gaze, he could feel more than see how his father was relenting.

"Do you promise on the Styx that you will stick by your word?" Hades asking in warning, wanting it to be threatening but only his son knew that it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"I swear it by the Styx that I will stick to my word in the matter discussed now." Nico nodded firmly, sure of his choice, planning in his head which days he could come. Sunday to Tuesday wouldn't be a bad decision, if only he could keep a track of the time better down here next time.

"Very well, the pair of you may leave. However. As an extra....challenge, shall we say, you must complete the same task as Orpheus when he was leaving with his precious love also: do not look behind you. Otherwise you, Perseus Jackson, will face the same fate he did. He lost his love to the Underworld because he could not trust in that she was behind him. Do not make that same mistake, otherwise Nico will be kept here and only return to the surface when given explicit permission from myself to do so. Understand?" The boys nodded, and Nico went to speak, to say one final thanks to his father for his generosity as well as object to him being Percy's love, but nothing came out. Hades smiled a wicked grin at his son as he realised his misfortune. "An extra, extra, challenge. Or something of the sort, and now, off you go." He waved his hand and another exit appeared in the wall, the pair started to walk before Hades made sure that Nico was behind the other.

The walk back was quiet, once Percy had finished talking of how it came to be that he was to come and find him in the Underworld, after looking around as many places as he could in America for the last fortnight. That was after he had contacted Camp Jupiter the week prior to see if he turned up there to spend time with Hazel and simply ignored the, probably-if-not-almost, hundreds of IM's from him, as well as just about everybody else that Nico spoke to on a semi-regular basis for the first week. As it turned out he wasn't there, but they decided to wait another week before sending out search parties (aka Percy) to all the places he was most likely to be. Then he was given a tip-off from a god, he wasn't sure which one, "but he freaked me out, and I was able to find you. Happy ending, yay."

Nico tried to laugh, but still no sound came out. It frustrated Nico to no end and felt strange more than anything, but he assured himself that his father would restore his voice once they were out of the tunnels or at Camp Half-Blood at the latest.

"Nico," Percy sounded worried, "you are still there, right? Like, you haven't just left me to wander through this extremely long tunnel that Hades carved by myself now have you." Nico wanted to respond with a snort of derision (that didn't make a noise either) before he realised that Percy maybe had a point, in that he was extremely quiet when it came to everything. Instead Nico just gripped his head and kept it facing forward because he knew, should he have just tapped him, he would have turned around and Nico would be forced to work for his father until he died. He was almost taller than the son of Poseidon these days and he would hopefully still grow a couple more inches as unlikely as that sounded. Percy breathed a sigh of relief. "That's great. For extra safety purposes, do you think I could give you a piggy back or something so that I know you're there?" Nico sighed, before moving his hands to Percy's shoulders to stop him and then push him down as a sign of agreement.

There was no struggle with carrying his weight regardless of how much muscle Nico had gained, which he was proud of, but the fact Percy didn't struggle with him offended him slightly as he clearly had more of it still and Nico wanted to be stronger. But no matter, it was a small thought to be pushed aside until later.

After some more walking they came to a split path and Percy asked which road they should take, with some thought, Nico motioned to the left one and they carried on walking. Not after some time, they began to see light at the end of the tunnel - quite literally. This seemed to urge Percy to walk faster, even with Nico on his back. Walking out of the opening they found themselves coming out of a cluster of rocks down at the beach back at the camp, and he had never been so thankful to unattach himself from Percy to try and bury himself in the sand once he was let down. It felt like such a relief. He tried to speak once more, expecting his voice to have returned to find it yet hadn't. Instead of instantly criticising his father he simply planned to wait rather than rushing to point fingers and simply motioned to Percy that he couldn't speak still with an example and some frustrated motioning. No noise though.

Percy simply laughed, which caused Nico to pout, which then caused the son of Poseidon to tease him some, promising that he would fill the other campers in so they didn't bug him too much, at least he hoped not.

It was a slow walk back up to the camp due to both of their fatigue, and there was nothing else to fill the silence as Percy had filled him in on everything that he needed to know as far as he could remember at least. Both of them went straight to their cabins, both of them were exhausted but neither would really admit that to the other, Percy especially, and it was late in the evening by now and Nico wasn't even sure the time that they had set off back from the Underworld or what time he arrived there. Their minds were a mess at this moment and what they most likely needed best was to just sleep it off for twelve hours to wake up tomorrow like fresh, and Nico hoped he had his voice back.

His wish was not granted the next morning, but he was too groggy to even notice it at first, only yawning before going back to sleep for as long as he could physically manage before he was dragged out by somebody to do some kind of camp activity.

Naturally that person was Percy (who else, really?) except it wasn't to do camp activites because he was making such a racket with banging on his cabin door loudly before coming in anyway when Nico didn't open up, following by the opening of his curtains to let in the bright sunshine of midday as well as the stripping of his bed sheets from on top of him because, truly, Percy was a cruel, cruel man.

"Wake up! Rise and shine! Get your ass out of bed Di Angelo because we got a quest to go on." Percy didn't get an answer. He would have, had his voice been returned to him. But all he got was Nico trying to crawl under his pillow in an attempt to hide from the sun, which in this mood at this level of tired was very bad and very evil for disturbing such nice rest. There was no satisfactory feeling when he groaned, as his voice was still gone so he didn't get that raw, guttural feeling that one does when groaning to express their displeasure at being woken by such cruel fates.

Percy would not take that as his answer and he refused to give up, pouncing onto the bed so he was on his knees and looking down at the clearly disappointed younger, before taking the second pillow from beside him which was un-used to cower from the sun with, and started to smack him with it. Twice. At first. Then several more times until Nico pushed him out of bed and got dragged along so that he landed above Percy. He looked downright murderous, for someone so tired at least. Part of him couldn't deny that Nico looked extremely cute like this, so he didn't try and simply smiled up at the boy brightly.

"Get dressed. We're going to get your voice back." That is what made Nico reconsider murdering his best friend and long-time, still-there, crush. Rather he sat up and looked at him curiously instead. "Yes, you heard correctly, we are getting you voice back. Rachel said that she had a quest. Well. Not a quest as such. But, more, she saw us getting your voice back except there was no real prophecy to go with it and she just described it to me what she saw." Percy explained; Nico gestured for him to go on, getting excited to hear everything else, but Percy waggled his finger at him. "Oh no, you get the rest of the story after you've gotten dressed and had lunch with the other campers." he declared, and Nico narrowed his eyes at him before doing as he was told anyway. A short delay in finding out wouldn't be so horrible, and he could begin to feel the neglect on his body from lack of eating again, though this time it wasn't his fault necessarily at least.

Percy was waiting for him outside of the cabin, sat on the obsidian steps while leaning on his elbows, enjoying the early afternoon sunshine as it shined down. Nico just walked past him with a small kick to the shoulder to alert him to his presence, at which he bounded up and started to explain to Nico about the preparations taking place for a new set of competitions - similar to that of the very first Olympic games held in Ancient Greece all those millennia ago. The look that Nico was priceless, asking how he both managed to forget to tell him that and really, Jackson?! You forgot to tell me that?! because, really, how could one forget such a thing? It seemed nearly impossible to think, then again, he remembered last year when he actually forgot it was his birthday for two days - his actual birthday, and the day after. The only reason he was reminded of it was because he was ambushed at camp by his friends when they realised he was back from his quest. Or something. He was doing something. But this was still different to missing something you never celebrated anyway, but he would let it slide with simply a smack to the back of his head.

Granted, he did not eat quite so much this time, but never the less, he ate quite a considerable amount, bearing in mind that he was also still relatively full from his previous night's meal. Then it was as he was coming to the end of the meal that Percy began his explanation of what they had to do. Well, not so much explanation and more of a warning that "You won't like this Nico, at all, but if you want your voice back then you have to do it." Boredom was evident as he just looked at the son of Poseidon, waiting for him to continue. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you." Nico simply cocks his head to the side slightly with a raised eyebrow, because, really, he isn't going without his voice for much longer. "Come on." Once he stood up, Nico just followed him. Down to the beach.

And Percy just dived into the water after walking a certain distance out. That's great. The thing Nico would prefer to not do in the entire world because quite frankly he just doesn't want to. It isn't that he can't swim, he can and has since he was a young child, not to mention how Percy took it upon himself to make him more confident in water a few months after the war in preparation for the next summer. Although the main memory which stands out is how Percy tried to drown him if he remembered correctly. All in the name of "fun". Nico is still bitter at the memories.

This was over his voice. This was something more important than bad memories probably meant to be fun had he being paying attention, and it just went wrong when he was on a surfboard (great idea, Will). Not a big deal. This was his voice. He needed this.

Slowly, very slowly, he made his way to the shore and began wading through the shallow end of the water. Taking a deep breath before going deeper until it was up to his waist; now he was just to wait for Percy as he had no idea where he had actually gotten to. Waiting long wasn't an issue as Percy grabbed his leg and pulled him down. On instinct he took a breath as it was dragged out of him, and only breathed once Percy tapped him, when he also opened his eyes since he knew it would be safe.

Nico wanted desperately to ask how they were to find his voice, but he couldn't get the words out for quite obvious reasons, so was stuck just being pulled by the elder to wherever they were going. Not that he knew or had it even being properly being explained to him. This really wasn't going the best in Nico's opinion because he was so in the dark with everything going on yet he was going to trust Percy knew what he was doing and wouldn't get them lost.

Naturally he started to judge his own better judgement as he was led down an even darker part still, of the ocean. It made Nico anxious, because there was a multitude of fish before and now there was nothing here. Or, at least, nothing he could see. And this was too far out of his domain to feel even remotely comfortable with any of the situation around him, even if Percy were there too.

No matter. They appeared to be coming to an end of wherever it is they're going and Nico's grip on Percy's hand tightens. Not that he would admit it, but he was scared. Extremely so. Percy didn't appear to be, even if he was hiding it, but he himself was holding tighter to the hand interlocked with his own as they swam towards a cave. A dark, damp, probably monstrous cave. The quicker they got out of here, the better, hopefully it wouldn't take so long and there would be no monsters to fight.

Once they swam a certain distance they were able to stand again, strangely enough to Nico, but then, they were in the ocean and this was in no way his speciality. From there, there was plenty of light to see where the pair of them were going as they walked, water still lapping around their ankles a little, but not too much to worry over. The feeling of dread only increased in Nico, though he honestly wasn't expecting a monster to jump out at them at this point (still wouldn't surprise him quite frankly).

No, Nico's heart jumped to his throat and his stomach dropped as he saw the first person stood at the end of the passage, into a more open room-like space. Instantly, he would be growling had he been able to make a noise. Percy seemed mildly annoyed, but no less than usual when on a quest and reaching the near-end. Beside him, sat on a rock with her legs dangling in the pool as she laughed heartily at what the god was saying. "True, very true." Whatever she was agreeing with, Percy coughed to interrupt them and bring their attention to them.

"Nico!" The god happily welcomed him, opening his arms as though it was his home they were being introduced into. Nico just glared as they walked closer. The girl, with darker-than-honey coloured, wet and tangled hair, did nothing aside from smile at the pair simply. "You arrived at last," the god continued on, "you know, I was beginning to wonder if you got lost. But I'm absolutely positive that Percy would never let such a thing happen, correct?" Percy began to glare now.

"Just give us Nico's voice back." Percy said, requested, in a fair voice. The god tutted, shaking his head with a sad smile on his face.

"I'm afraid it isn't that simple, my little sea prince." There was a pause as the god looked up and looked directly into Nico's eyes. "Nico must win his voice back." Nico's jaw dropped and his eyes widened, looking around to the lack of audience here to witness the wonderfully logical suggestion just made by Eros.

"H-how?" Percy stammered, asking for both his own curiosity and for Nico himself to know.

"This is Peisinoe, though she has often been known by other names throughout the myths along with her two sisters. Though this is the favourite she has chosen for herself, and I agree that it is quite beautiful, matching the quality of that of...her voice." Eros briefly explained, and while Percy knew he was not well versed in the classical mythology, and the amount of trios of sisters there are confuses him, but with what Eros seemed to be implying.

"She's a siren." Percy stated simply.

"Well you are smarter than your first impression gives you credit for, sea prince." A glimmer sparkled in Eros' eyes and it was dangerous.

"How is he supposed to win his voice in competition, that I presume is singing otherwise there is no reason to have a siren here, without his voice?" Percy asked, thankfully asking the questions that Nico has too, so Nico just stood beside him with his arms folded and simply matching his facial expressions to whatever is said.

"Simple. His voice is locked in this-" Eros held up a seashell, "and he will sing even without his voice, and his voice will slowly come to him the more passion he puts into the singing. However. There is of course the catch that the wonderful Peisinoe will also be competing for the voice, merely for it to remain in the shell but nonetheless."

"What does he have to sing?" Percy asked.

"Well I'm so glad that you asked." Eros grinned, a book appearing from thin air and he flicked to a few hundred pages the way through before handing it to Nico who shook his head before throwing the book to the side. "Oh, come now Nico. It isn't such a terrible song. If anything, I feel it will fit you rather well. And it's already in two parts - pretty much if you take out the harmonising - so it's perfect for the competition." Eros pouted, sticking his lip out and widening his eyes some to see if that worked; Nico simply turned away and refolded his arms with a stamp of his foot with his nose slightly in the air.

"Nico, do you want you voice back or not?" Percy asked quietly, trying to be unheard by the god, Nico just looked back at him pathetically, as if hoping that would be the answer he would accept.

"Do not think that you do not have to work for his voice also, sea prince." Eros warned threateningly. "Peisinoe is a siren, should you not forget it, and she will be enchanting you to walk to the other side of this cavern where there is such a drop to the water even you would die on impact. This will not happen if you should resist the siren call and have faith in your precious friend. Should you fail to resist the call, Nico can forfeit his voice to save you if it gets too late to run and stop you." Both of their eyes widen again, barely comprehending their task before Nico picked the book up again and held it in front of him, looking at the lyrics. At least he had the decency to give them him in Italian. Not to mention, they were from the one Disney movie that Percy refused to watch to due to how brutally they butchered the myth of Hercules to create such...he just couldn't bear the thought of watching it in any way, so Nico was free to sing this. In Italian.  
"Se esieste un premio per gli ingenui," Nico started, though his voice was quiet and raw, it was there and coming back to him. "Io l'ho gia' vintoo da tempo," his voice got stronger the more he sang, his smile at the floor pathetic as it continued.

He daren't look at the others in the room, Percy specifically. Who had never heard him sing and was not somebody he wouldn't see for another few months or years, no, he was stuck with his companion.

On the other hand, Percy couldn't stop staring at Nico. His voice. It had a raw quality to it which made it seem all that more beautiful as he hit all of the notes and made it seem like a simple thing, to have such a voice. Furthermore, the fact that Nico had never spoken of his ability to sing kind of offended the son of Poseidon if he was being honest! What was that about? It wasn't as though he wouldn't have been able to keep the talent a secret had Nico told him. Not that it matters now, he was showing him now and that was the important think.

Nico couldn't stop thinking however, of all his memories of speaking the language with Bianca and their mother, all the times in Venice before they were moved to the US. It tugged at something in him, some powerful emotion likened to that of regret, though not quite. It only made his voice strengthen the next lines.

There was a moment, a tiny one, where he hoped he could possibly win the competition and then she opened her mouth and began singing ten times more securely than him and his hope diminished quicker than that of a flame engulfed by water. And he sighed before singing again. Momentarily he looked up, and he saw that the shell held by Eros had started to glow, and the siren looked miffed, if anything, though she tried to not show it. A glance was spared at Percy, who was simply stood looking at him with open eyes, admiration shining through with the small smile on his face. Present only when he was proud; proud of Nico.

If anything, that is what encouraged Nico the most. Even as Peisinoe sung harder, trying to get the voice to remain in the shell, or to make Percy walk. For several scary moments, Percy did stand up and begin to walk towards the other side of the cavern, only several steps before Nico's voice called him back to reality and he walked over and fell at his feet. The more Nico sung the song, the more powerful the tug in his stomach became. The one that reminded him of his sister and mother in Venice, and tears slipped out, against his free will. Instantly Percy stood to wipe them away, smiling at him more as he cupped his face while waiting for the siren to finish her song, but it wasn't enough to send Percy to his death or for Nico to lose his voice. She could see herself how emotional Nico became while singing this was what made his will and passion stronger than hers to win his voice back, not simply because he wanted his voice back. An outlet, of sorts, is what this was for him, would be her best guess. For all the emotion packed within him he refused to release, for whatever reason.

It is because of this raw emotion and beauty where Nico voluntarily let himself show to an audience that allowed him to win his own voice back. He guesses he should be thankful, but for what? Not going voiceless the rest of his life when he was never the one to lose it in the first place? Great.

The god merely looked ecstatic, turning to the siren to speak, " I told you, didn't I tell you?" he tells her smugly.

"Yes, yes," she sighs, "you did. Congratulations on winning the competition boys, I wish you all the best." With that, she began walking back to the sea from the was the pair entered, out of their sight quickly before the pair turned back to the god.

"That was very much everything I had expected and so much more." The god is smiling widely and Nico had the very intense want to murder him. Very much so. Yet he didn't, only glared, because he wanted to keep his voice now that he had it. "The of you are free to leave whenever you wish, please, go ahead." The god gestured to the water.

"The catch?" Nico asked, speaking with a slight scratch to his throat despite the beautiful voice coming from him before, but mostly likely because it was adjusting to being with him once more.

"No catch, the catch was Mr Jackson's small challenge, which obviously he had no problem focusing all of his attention for his love. For the most part anyway. Nobody died anyway so it's fine!" The god announced before vanishing in a flash of light, and Nico ignored the gods words of him being Percy's love in favour of walking back towards the water, hoping that Percy would follow.

Despite now having his voice back, there wasn't much he could think to say in regards to, well, anything. So he didn't, simply letting the son of Poseidon hold his hand in their small air bubble so that they could breathe as the water pushed them closer to the surface without the need to swim much.

It was once they broke the surface, Nico gasped, there was no need to but he felt entirely different breathing up here as he did down there, even in the cavern (probably due to pressure changes). Luckily this time not much time seemed to have passed, with it being near dinner time at camp only. Plus, the ascent was quicker by far than the descent. All Nico wanted to do was lay down on the soft sand and sleep some more, so not much of a change to his usual attitude really, but at least now he had reasons to sleep so much rather than just wanting to.  
  
Camp was in full buzz about these "Olympic games" that were taking place in merely a week. Of course, not everybody was joining in with them because either they weren't that good or they just didn't want to. Plus, quite frankly, somebody was bound to get hurt so some of the Apollo cabin needed to be alert and free to bandage them up. Especially with Pankration, Nico wondered how they were going to control something like that, especially when some here have powers and magic, or give the Stolls drachma. Basically anything could happen. Obviously it isn't such a big deal and they've faced worse, but people still play dirty and something is going to end up happening, it's probably just for the best.

"Is there anything that you would want to take part in?" Percy asks him as they walk, Percy wanting food after using so much energy today, understandably.

"Running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, pankation and/or equestrian events? I'm good thanks," Nico pulls a face at that, and Percy shrugged as he sat down and began to eat the mountain of food on his plate as others started to come in as well. Excitement was bubbling from most people at the prospect of these games next week.

"Actually instead of boxing we have sword fights, as you'd expect, pretty much nobody knows the rules of boxing so it seemed easier. And we have discus instead on shot put, at the request of Apollo as he wanted to join some of the events apparently - I don't know - but I am doing the chariot racing and pegasus racing, thanks so much for asking." He raised his eyebrows with a teasing smile, knowing that Nico would be asking at some point but it wasn't necessarily his first thought, and Nico only stuck his tongue out. "Oh, and I'm doing discus as well because Jason said that I wouldn't have a chance of beating him and, y'know, I have to prove him wrong." Nico chuckled at that, of course those two would have some kind of competition somewhere in this.

There wasn't much going on at camp now, since most activities had ended for the day and everybody was just hanging out really; Nico went off to go find Cecil and Lou after they'd eaten, while Percy went to find Jason and Piper, saying goodbye for most likely the rest of the night. All they wanted to know was about what he'd been doing, where he'd been for the past month, where they were today, why they had heard he had to retrieve his voice and all things related.

It was a long story, he got interrupted often, and he left out all the parts where gods referred to him and Percy as being in love, in some way or form. Granted that makes the stories have more of an edge to them but to Nico that makes it seem better in his head because it made them hate the situation as much, if slightly less, than he himself. Which was good.

That night he slept the whole way through and when he woke he was still in his cabin. This seemed to be some kind of achievement to him, if he was being honest; it felt good to stretch his joints after so many hours of sleeping, and rub the sleep from his eyes, before getting changed into some black, skinny, sweat pants with a light grey vest top and black converse to then go get himself some breakfast. To say he woke up earlier than usual was pretty much an understatement, considering he would usually just be in time for the middle of lunch unless somebody deliberately woke him up - in which case they either had a death wish or something genuinely important to tell him. (And, no, as much as he tried to claim it to be, Nico could not agree on any level with Percy that Mrs O'Learly bounding into his cabin to lick him awake is a good enough to wake Nico up.)

That night he told people that he would be visiting his father for three days and not to worry if they couldn't find him in the morning, and until Tuesday evening, assuring them that he would be fine before going to his cabin to sleep, despite the somewhat early hours.

His time in the underworld went better this time, to say the least. It was almost like a small family reunion of sorts when Demeter and Persephone made dinner for everybody, including several of the other minor gods in the underworld, and Hestia, as she always came to "family dinners", being goddess of the hearth and all. If it was, it was a strange family reunion. Enjoyable, all the same, but strange still. Everybody started discussing how their jobs were going and how stressful everything was, Nico stayed silent in this topic, then they moved to some gossip from Olympus. It was interesting to hear, expected in some cases, and it was here that Nico paid attention even though he had nothing really to contribute to the conversation.

"Eros says his plans are going very well," Demeter speaks, clearly not knowing his plans though, "and Psyche is even offering her assistance." Nico raised an eyebrow as he ate. Interesting. In how, if Eros' plan is what he thinks it is, Psyche had to endure the same idea (if not worse) from Aphrodite, and now she is aiding him in the same thing happening to himself and Percy. Now how was that fair in any sense. She can no longer be bitter, surely, so what does she get out of it?

From there the conversation changed, very few comments made on Demeter's news, talking now about how Hera and Zeus are now fighting once more. All Nico could do was roll his eyes. After some time Melinoe, another of Hades' daughters though a minor goddess, not demigod, speaks to Nico himself and asks how camp is and how he's doing and such. She's nice, very older-sisterly if anything, and it reminds him of Bianca which comforts him. Of course, she would never replace Bianca in any way, the same way that Hazel could never, but it was still comforting to have her ask and to take an interest in what he's doing and how his life is. At some point Hades and Persephone also listen to the stories he's telling her of how Eros forced him to get his voice back. Luckily, if anything, she seems impressed by him and his courage, or something like that.

Hades seemed to get more frustrated throughout the story, perhaps as he commented on Percy often, but Persephone simply giggled slightly and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You weren't to know what it was he wanted to do." She tells her husband soothingly.  
  
"Yes, but it is Eros." Hades growled, "I should have known that something would happen after the little incident during the Giant War, honestly, but I was too busy to focus much on that." He sighed in frustration and Nico's head cocks to the side slightly.

Persephone is the one to answer. "Your father was visited by Eros shortly after your two's departure, and he said he would return your voice to you as soon as you exited the tunnel as he needed to speak to you. Granted he assured your father he would be careful with it and not to cause you more trouble than he already has, however he never swore it on the Styx. I think your father's main cause for worry is how he forced you into the water, far from his domain, and with that you were required to take Perseus. And even then, had you some way to breathe underwater or something similar for so long, I do not think Poseidon would quite be so kind with leaving you, personally, alone." Nico nodded his head in understanding.

"That was one of my own worries also, I disliked going into the ocean, never mind as far down as we did go. It was...extremely unnerving, to be honest. Which only made the task worse, despite it taking place in a cave. It was extremely...simple, I guess. But at the same time it was more the pressure of being the only way to save myself and Percy without giving my voice up and forfeiting." Nico told them, knowing it was normal for him to feel that way and they wouldn't say anything down here about that, despite how in camp they found it a little odd (they never pushed him too far though, not anymore).

"There is something else. The reason you were actually able to-" Hades stopped talking, looking down gravely, and Persephone motioned for him to stop talking.

"Nico. What..what your father is trying to say is, you're not just half-god, and half-mortal. Once of your extremely distant ancestors, he was a part of Odysseus' crew and a son of Hermes. Odysseus and his crew passed through where the Sirens lived - at the time of course - and they had all been advised to fill their ears with candle wax, I believe?" Melinoe nodded in agreement, so Persephone continued. "But, despite this, your ancestor still dove into the ocean upon seeing one of the sirens and their beauty. Because he had headed the orders given by Odysseus on not being able to hear them, he was not put under her spell immediately and instead swam to her and she was about to kill him. Except, he overpowered and raped her." Nico's jaw dropped, though he should have expected as much from where the story was going and it being ancient Greece, but still, that displeased him to know.

"I have siren blood in me?" he asked simply, quietly, though the whole table heard. He had to admit though, that did at least indicate some reason as to why Percy fell at his feet when he began to sing forcefully.

"Yes. Simply put." Hades said.

"And you didn't think this important to tell me?" Nico asked, voice dangerously low.

"We didn't think anything would ever mean that you would need to find out." Persephone interceded, before either Hades or his son could begin to let their anger grow.

"How much of my blood is of Siren descent?" Nico asked.

"You are one quarter of siren blood, half godly, and the final quarter is mortal. We do not know why exactly it is, they say that the future descendants of her line are cursed, by the very siren that gave birth to her. In females it is even more dominant, meaning they are half of siren blood." Melinoe is the one to tell him this, apparently knowing the most.

"What is the rest of that story, after he raped her, what happened to the child?" Nico was both desperate and eager to know.

"She murdered the father, as she was expected to have done before, and continued on before she knew of the pregnancy, which she remained unknown of until of course the baby started to show in her body, but she continued with the pregnancy - not having a way to abort the child nor the heart to do it should she have had the ability. When the child was ready to be born," Melinoe spoke softly, "both the siren's sisters refused to help her, thinking it disgraceful that she was over-powered and out-smarted by a mere sailor, son of Hermes or not. So she sat on a rock and wept, asking for help from Poseidon or any of the other sea gods seeing as that was where she lived," a small smile appeared on her face, "but he refused to answer her."

"Instead, Eros heard her, and came to her rescue. He himself had no experience with child-birth on such a personal level and so also called for aid from his mother who very happily and easily aided the siren with the birth of her child. A little girl with her mother's eyes. She was beautiful, it was said, but as the child was not a full siren, she was not able to stay with her mother." Nico was listening intently to the whole story, captivated by the voice Melinoe spoke with in how soft it was, with sadness etched into the edges. Her eyes were downcast as the story went on. "The siren had to hand over her child to the goddess so that she was able to take the child to safety on land, and give her to a family who would gladly adopt her. It broke the siren's heart, to let her child go so soon, but she knew the child would not live eternally like herself and so placed a final kiss on the child's forehead before handing her over to the goddess, who promised that she would in fact be in very good hands and the family would care for her. Aphrodite asked if she would like to give anything to the child, to remember her by even should she not remember her, so she wrapped a necklace around the child's neck. A black seashell dangled from the centre, blessed so that her child would always recognise the ill-intent of men and never fall for their tricks. The child lived very happily."

"And did she find true love, with the help of her mother's necklace? How is it that her line became cursed? If she did live such a happy life?" Nico asked, quite invested in the story by this point.

"She did. Yes." Macaria spoke now, not having said a lot over dinner but Melonie looked too solemn to continue the story herself. "She had many suitors throughout the earlier years of her life. People were charmed by her and her voice, when she spoke and sung. For the sake of safety, she was passed off as a child of Aphrodite who's father had died, and so was adopted for that reason. If anybody other than her family had known she was the daughter of a siren, they would have hunted her more than the Minotaur. She herself only learnt once they were sure she was old enough to keep such a secret. She never did anybody any harm, and she fell in love, yes. Twice, in fact." Nico raised his eyebrows at that, though he shouldn't really be surprised.  
  
"The first she loved when she was barely of age. She had recently turned to be nineteen, and she fell in love when she stumbled across somebody simply doing a job. For her, it had been love at first sight. And for the other also. Despite this, they had to part. For long into the next decade, she thought of the one she met and in her dreams visited her as often as able though the other sometimes did not turn up. She didn't mind. But she fell deeper in love nontheless. As she grew older, she met a man who tried very hard to impress her, to make her laugh, to make her feel like she was the most amazing person in the world, as though she were Aphrodite herself. At first she did not love him, still in love with the one from her dreams and a one-time encounter, but slowly she realised that his intentions were true and pure and he would not bring her harm purposefully. She bore him a son of his own, one who had his father's eyes but his mother's kind heart and voice - a quarter of siren blood. As the child grew older, many people fell in love with the child and thought that he was quite charming. However, shortly after his fifteenth birthday his mother decided to tell him the secret of his voice and in his blood. She knew, of course, to make him also promise to never tell anybody, including his father. He agreed. But his father was listening and was suddenly infuriated with the thought of his wife being related to sirens. Not Aphrodite as he had been led to believe. So he decided to kill her. With his intentions hidden from everybody, he planned to kill her and his son, and so brought his sword down on his wife's chest before her previous love was ever able to warn her as she slept, in her dreams. Luckily, her love was able to warn her son just moments before he woke so that he could try to run, try to escape."

For a moment, Macria's face grew optimistic and Nico thought that the story would take a turn for the better and that the son managed to escape, until Melinoe's own face scrunched up and she turned away and Macria's face fell again.

"He did not. His father caught him on the way out of the town and, once more, brought his sword down to murder." Both Macria and Melinoe seemed unable to continue on with the story, but Melinoe cleared her throat and continued.

"The siren felt the pain in her heart, at her family being murdered, long before she made it to land to hear it for herself. For this crime against her daughter and grandson, she murdered the man who caused it. She gave him a painful death, of luring him to the ocean, following her, before she slit his throat so he was barely alive and then submerged him in water. She cursed him and swore on the Styx that, had he had any other children, that they would be of siren blood of the same quantity of his wife and son, gender respective." Melinoe's voice no longer cracked, but tears had begun to pour down her face. Something Nico had never seen from his half-sister, and he began to wonder.

"Then, how did his line continue if he was killed and unable to give more children?"

"His wife had been pregnant, with triplets, but it was too early and they weren't to have known yet," Melinoe answered with a half-smile. "Eros pitied the woman, more than anything, and saved the children himself, asking permission from Psyche to impregnate her with them so they could continue living and, being such an family-oriented and open-hearted woman that she is, Psyche agreed and they rose the children as their own. Quite a beautiful story of family coming from the most unlikely places sometimes, or being that necessarily your family is not those who are related to you. Of course the children then went on to bore their on lines of children. Your mother's is the only one left however, you are the only descendant of a siren left. One other line died off not long afterwards, due to a plague hitting the town of one of the descendants before they could have any children. The other ended in Victorian England."

That was the end of the story, resulting in him being at the end of a line of descendants. It was...terrifying, to think. Nico had never expected to find out he was the only one of a bloodline to remain. That was something to later process. That he would not tell to many, if any at all.

"You were the love of the siren's daughter, weren't you?" he asked, directing his question Melinoe. She simply nodded with a slight smile, and Nico moved around to give her a hug, engulfing her small and fragile body these days, after developing so many muscles to go with his height. She hugged him back and moved her head so she was speaking over his shoulder rather than into it.

"There were some ghosts who had escaped from here, and they were running amuck near where she was. And I didn't want them to cause her any trouble, so I incapacitated them as quickly as possible, but as I was dusting myself off, she saw me. And..the rest is history. Except it isn't because this story always goes untold. Probably for the best, really." She laughed slightly and Nico stroked her back slowly, just slightly, placing a kiss on her temple before he sat back down and she nodded at him.

Shortly after, dinner was over and everybody went back to their duties or whatever they were doing prior to dinner.

The next couple of days were spent carefully watching the time whenever he got the chance to, between doing odd jobs for his father mostly, that he couldn't be bothered to do himself but simply needed doing anyway so Nico seemed the option. His first night was the only time they all ate together, and mostly he just got himself whatever food he wanted, or got Jules Albert to fetch him something from McDonalds, menial things really.

Tuesday evening came and he thanked his father, saying goodbye to both him and Persephone, her kissing his cheek and him returning the gesture before shadow-travelling back to the camp, promising to be back on Sunday once more, already having seen his sisters to say goodbye. Dinner was coming to an end as people were going to do whatever they wanted, Nico simply sat down at his table instead and began to eat the happy meal he had retrieved from Jules Albert before seeing his father.

He managed to eat his whole meal without being mobbed by his friends once, surprisingly, which was a little strange but he brushed it off as them preparing for the games in two days time, or relaxing for the games, either way. When he walked to his cabin all he wanted to do was go to sleep for the night, despite the early hours, to allow time to catch up to him.  
  
What stopped him from doing this, however, is that campers of all godly parents were running towards the arena with grins splitting their faces at the sounds of the fight that's broken out. Already he could hear bets being made by the Hermes children as they raced passed him, so he decided to follow because "Percy would totally beat Jason, obviously," and he wanted to know what they were fighting about, since bets were only ever placed when it came to serious fights. First he went to his cabin to get his sword, which allowed for the people to get there before he did.

As he was walking towards it, over the murmur of people and clashing of swords, he could hear snatches of what they were yelling at each other over the noise.

"-put him in danger!" That would be the blonde's voice.

More clashing of swords.  
  
"-can protect him!" Was retaliated from the black-haired male.

People's gasps came next, somebody almost became injured seriously, Nico rolled his eyes.

"-like it! You do nothing but cause trouble!"  
  
The wind seemed to pick up all over the camp then, and people's complaints at the growing cold rose, so some started to leave, giving him looks as he continued to walk towards the arena.

"-told that before, obviously!"

Nico saw it as no other choice but to shadow-travel to the arena and hope he wasn't impaled on accident, at least before he could disarm the pair. And that's what he did, almost causing Percy to become impaled himself as he noticed him and got distracted momentarily.

"Nico's a person, and he doesn't need you to mother him, he's not your child." Percy was simply defending himself, more than attacking Jason, and Nico began to walk forward with the intentions to disarm the pair.

"I don't mother him, but I do more good for him than you." Instead of disarming them, Nico sheathed his sword and caused the ground to begin opening, only small cracks but enough to make noise and cause the other two to drop their swords, as the shadows closed in on the trio.

"Who are you to decide what is best for me and my well-being, Grace!" Nico was louder than the pair and all other noises, all people were frozen as he caused for a rock to start coming out of the earth so he was towering far above the pair and all of the audience watching. "Neither of you gets to decide anything for, or about me! That is my choice to make! Understood?" The pair nodded, but otherwise were frozen in their spots and beginning to look increasingly guilty and shameful before Nico simply shadow-travelled away again, to his cabin where he just passed out from exhaustion of what he'd just done.

Nico didn't know what had caused him to change his mind from simply disarming them to...well, whatever dramatics he had chosen to perform seemingly. But if it worked, and they never fought over him and his choices then that at least was something. All Nico wanted to do now was sleep for the next eighteen hours, if not longer.

Percy was knocking on the door to Nico's cabin with Jason stood beside him. Since the fight they had made up and apologised to the other for what they said, otherwise forgetting the whole incident pretty much. The reason they were at Nico's cabin now, is because it was coming up to dinner and Nico hadn't left his cabin the whole day due to sleeping, so they thought it be best to wake him up to make sure he ate something.

He didn't answer, of course. Quietly, they crept into his room, careful not to possibly trip on anything - Nico could be messy when he was tired, meaning his usual immaculate cleanliness didn't happen.

Of course the boy was sleeping somewhat peacefully, though he had a twitch in his leg, and the pair began by simply shaking him slightly while saying his name. He still didn't wake up. They shook him more and he began to stir, the circles under his eyes dark as he faced them in his sleep. It only took a little more of shaking him and calling him, with Percy quite literally jumping onto the bed beside him a few times before he sat up at last, wiping his eyes and yawning.

"Oh thank the gods you're awake, Nico," Jason said, laughing slightly, "I thought we'd have to go all sleeping beauty on you or something." Percy laughed at that too, only a little, and more nervous than anything. For a moment Nico didn't know what they were talking about, only having received a Disney education some time in the past two years whenever he was at camp, but once he placed the story with the film's name, he smiled before shooing the pair out of his room with a promise to come out within five minutes, having to push Percy off of his bed so that he would leave and not make himself comfortable.

When he emerges five minutes and thirty-two seconds later (yes, Jason was in fact counting) he looks somewhat more refreshed than before, though the circles under his eyes were still there, so the elder pair says nothing about his health and instead leave him be to sit at his own table while they do the same, him devouring so much more than either of them put together though unsurprisingly, as a matter of fact.

Afterwards, they speak to him briefly to explain how they made up and that they're sorry for ever assuming that they could make any sort of choices for Nico when, obviously, it's nowhere near their decisions to make. He accepts their apology before going to see Lou, Cecil, and Will, asking about how their preparations are going for the games. Will, as camp's head healer, is simply staying in the infirmary the entire time to make sure anybody that becomes injured is taken care of. Cecil and Lou are doing nothing - they have no interest in anything taking part and would much rather sleep or practice anything other than practice sports to partake in competitions with sports. Ultimately they decided that they'll probably just keep Will company. Nico had already promised to go watch Percy's competitions, and Jason's maybe. (He was only doing discus, with Percy, and sword-fighting, which he'd seen Jason fight often enough it wasn't exactly entertaining.)

From that conversation they simply watched a movie, as they had taken the job to educate him on some of the greatest movies throughout history whenever they got the time - meaning Nico wasn't busy with odd jobs, or visiting the other camp, quests and such, Cecil and Lou were awake, and Will wasn't in the infirmary and busy/preoccupied. They had no specific genre, as long as it wasn't Disney, since Percy had predictably forbidden those, not that they minded and if anything the trio and Jason found it adorable actually. (Nico didn't think anything of it really, he was used to Percy making strange requests similar to that; even by that point.)

This time it was The Breakfast Club, who's idea it had been he couldn't quite remember, but he sat to watch the movie regardless, wondering why it was called The Breakfast Club, exactly, it didn't sound like a normal thing- a breakfast club? What even is that?

Nico didn't understand why he was crying at the movie in the end. It was such a perfect ending though. Somehow. It was...it was everything he didn't expect but found to be so amazing it didn't matter.

Some time after the movie finished, his friends left to go back to their own cabins and he was left to get himself a shower and brush his teeth before sleeping, ready to watch these knock-off-but-more-original Olympic Games the next morning, because they didn't seem to be so horrible when he thought about it. They could be interesting, even.

And wow just how wrong he was. Nico couldn't recall a time he had not being this bored in the past, at all. At least when he was running for his life he always had something to think about to keep him occupied, no matter what it was. But this..this reached a new level of boring and broke through the next ten glass ceilings to reach new heights. But he was doing this for his friends. He was impressed by how much had been built in the month he was gone, and the week or so he had been back. Sword fighting would take place in the arena, as usual, so no changes needed there; tracks had been laid out on the boarder of camp for the running to take place. Sand, it seemed, had been brought to an area of grass near to the arena after a hole was dug and was ready for the long jump. Nico shook his head at the small, but fully versatile, building which had been built for pankration; it was actually able to fit quite a large amount of people in by the looks of it when he went in, but he still didn't see why they were doing pankration. There was a reason that it hadn't been carried into the modern games, aside from more sophisticated sports being created since, but it was just that! It was not sophisticated in the slightest. "Yeah, 'cause the ancient Greek were real sophisticated, Nico," Percy had drawled when he made the point out loud, but of course the son of Poseidon wouldn't understand it. No matter, Nico still maintained his opinions of the sport.

It was decided that discus and Javelin, as well as chariot racing, would take place the next day so that the sword fighting could all be finished within the same day, because the race wouldn't take nearly as long, and neither would discus or javelin in theory. Plus, it meant that the games would finish late Friday afternoon/early evening, making the camp bonfire be a good round-off to the events. Something like that anyway, or so Chiron apparently declared it.

He agreed to watch all the events, with Percy if he wasn't competing, and that was the only reason why. Because it wasn't as though he disliked sports as such, but he just hated them with a burning passion and if Percy hadn't given him the biggest, as in, larger-than-Mrs-O'Learly's own, puppy eyes then he wouldn't be sat here hating his resolve around Percy while his will to live slowly diminishes.

The games weren't interesting, and Percy was only passing time until his own pegasus races later in the afternoon, but they were the same things over and over. Nico learned that everything had been designed by the Hephaestus cabin with strict instructions to make sure that none of the equipment (discus and javelines) could be charmed to help the person using them win, and the race tracks' boundaries were made to let no magic items or people who are charmed cross. Not only that but all new swords had been made for the same reason.  
  
Already it had led to three people being disqualified, slightly to Nico's amusement since the irony was that one of the new Hephaestus cabin mates thought that they were not a part of that deal. Still, watching sword fighting had become boring within the first five fights, none of them lasting all too long with powers not being able to be used, and everybody using the same weapon and not people's favoured choices. He had told Percy as such, who in return had rolled his eyes and smiled beforew taking him out to watch some of the races for a little while.

That wasn't too much more entertaining is he were being honest, but he humoured Percy who had gotten quite involved in the races taking place. There wasn't much more to get interested in, he thought, since they were just running, what's entertaining about that? The only slight appeal of it was Jake commentating on the people, that was quite amusing, and it only made the runners more irritated than already so.

Everything took a turn for the better, however, when there was a flash of light before the Pankration building, brighter than the majority of gods they were used to - Apollo was here. And currently being mobbed by, not only his own children, but the majority of other campers not taking part in anything. So, Percy hadn't been joking when he said Apollo wanted to join? That might make some of the games more interesting then, at least he hoped. Even Will had ran from the infirmary to be able to see his dad.

It took a few minutes before everybody stopped hounding him and went back off to whatever they were doing, finding it boring now that he'd been here for more than two minutes and was going to be here longer, and back again tomorrow.

Will was only watching this event, and only while his father was in it, like most of the other Apollo kids, so he'd left another sibling in charge on the infirmary and hoped nothing too bad would need him.

As most people had left, and with time still before the event began, Apollo took to talking to them about how they were doing, "not been chained to a rock again have we?" Percy just scowled. Once more people began to arrive, they entered the building and Apollo seemed impressed somewhat, before there was a flash of light blinded them and suddenly when they were able to open their eyes again, the room was much bigger with a more classic Greek look, found probably in ancient times if anything. To be expected of Apollo, really, as he also made for a lot of the stands to be filled with people that nobody recognised. Apollo really was going all out to make himself seem great. Plus, with over a millennia of practice it would mean that he would probably win too.

They looked over at Apollo, who was looking around proudly at his new venue and spectators. He turned to them and asked, "So how classic are we going here?" and then his clothes were gone, though his posture hadn't changed and the people around, though mostly his children, looked away with shouts of dismay. Nico didn't react the same way, he took a little longer to look away from the god's junk and even then he only seemed mildly impressed, then embarassed at the fact he looked at Apollo's dick for long enough that the god winked at him.

Will was the one to go shove a towel at his dad and yell for him to cover up because they weren't going that classic! He made it so that he was just wearing cargo shorts and a vest top, one which showed off just how well defined he was, even for a god it was mildly impressive; it wouldn't surprise them to find out he had one of the worst diets out of all of the gods.

The other competitors came in shortly after, warming up, and not very intimidated by Apollo for the most part, due to it being Ares' kids mostly, with some of the stronger from the other cabins. In reality, Apollo was only doing this because he was bored and there was nothing else to do these days. Or he was just becoming so bored with everything that he usually did it didn't matter. So it had been decided that he wouldn't - couldn't - be ranked at all, even if he were to end up winning every single event, that didn't matter.

The first to go up against Apollo and stand any kind of a chance against Apollo, meaning it lasted the longest so far out of those he had already faced as well as between the other competitors, was a son of Aphrodite named Pat. It was impressive, and despite the fact that three others were going on at the same time, Pat and Apollo's was the most impressive, entertaining, and interesting to watch, because even Nico agreed. He was thinking more agile than Apollo, who while thinking smart, also was focusing more on strength. But neither minded and was felt it was good for the both of them. With theirs, it had to be a case that they gave a time limit so that it would either end within another three minutes, or it would be named a draw.

At this, Apollo began to try more to think like Pat, and ultimately had him down on the floor and unable to move.

All in all it was a good afternoon, then Nico and Percy left not long before they were drawing to a close so that Percy could go to the stables, and Nico would get a good seat since "You gotta see me beat all their asses up close, obviously!"

And Nico wasn't really in the mood to debate otherwise, so after wishing both Percy and Blackjack good luck, he shadow travelled to the roof of his cabin to wait there for the race to begin.

Blackjack was performing better than usual in these situations, so Nico has no doubt that Percy somehow bribed him into doing better than usual and so started smirking the entire time he watched Blackjack overtake all the other pegasi and maintain the lead the whole time. The case was the same for all the other races too, with children of Aphrodite coming in second and third. They seemed slightly bitter over it but congratulated Percy all the same with warm smiles and a pat on the back or head. Then Percy bounded over to the Hades cabin full of smiles as he yelled up to Nico like a little kid, "Did y'see me, did ya?" and Nico has to suppress a smile but raises his eyebrows as he shadow travels to inside his cabin before coming out.

"Yeah, Percy, I saw you. What did you promise Blackjack this time?"

"A kilo of apples, and another kilo of sugar cubes." Percy looks down at his words.

"Wow...Chiron is going to murder you, great knowing you."

"It's not that bad! I told him I would bring him them every so often, so he wasn't eating them all at once, so he won't actually know...will he?"

"Like I said, been great knowing you, so glad I wasn't there to witness this promise and therefore can in no way testify at your trial." Nico's face and voice is deadly serious, and Percy could only hold his composure for another second before starting to laugh, and Nico does the same. Once they're calmer and walking to dinner with the other campers, Nico turns half-serious for a moment as he says "But seriously, you're a dead man." and then turns to his own table to sit down and eat quickly and quietly.

It was a quiet night, unsurprisingly, and he isn't quite sure what he's expected to do after dinner other than go to his cabin to entertain himself. Which he would do, had he not been dragged from his table by the son of Poseidon as soon as he was finished eating. He doesn't think much of it though as he's taken to the beach to just relax. A nice, peaceful evening, if this son of Poseidon had anything to say about it.

As though it were the most casual, and normal, thing to do in the world, Percy sat down in the middle of the beach, not caring how the sea rolled over him every so often and Nico joined him, as curious as he was as to why they were just sat. Doing nothing. Not even talking. He didn't mind so much, it was just peculiar to see Percy like this. It took a while of waiting, nearly twenty-five minutes (not that long, but for the pair it seemed to stretch out longer) he got his answer.

"Nico, do you know why we have to do those tasks by Eros, even if a couple of others helped?" Percy asked, squinting out at the almost-fully set sun, across the sea. Seemingly, he was regretful, making the question more rhetorical. Nico gave an answer anyway.

"I presume because Eros is still ticked off with me about Croatia? Not really my fault, he just meddles too much." Nico told him snarkily, slight tone to dismiss the situation if this is what's bothering Nico.

"Well, possibly, but it's mainly my fault."

"No it isn't, Perce, he's just a dick," Nico internally cringed at the overly-friendly nickname he rarely used, but tried to ignore the feeling.

"No. I met Cupid - his Roman counterpart - while in New Rome before I was chained to a rock, I still don't actually know why he was there, and he started talking to me about love and lust and my own feelings. He said something to me, I don't know what it means because I didn't understand it because it was in Latin or Italian or something, but then we got put in all those situations and even if the other gods helped I know it was-"

"Percy, what did he say?" Nico asked, cutting him off from rambling to possibly aid with calming him down as he looked on the verge of tears.

"I- I might be wrong, but I think he said: 'Quando si chiama amore,'. I could be wrong, but I could barely remember it, never mind spell it to try and possibly get a translation." Percy was whining, probably beating himself up again.

"I don't think he got it quite right, what he meant to say, but I believe, loosely, he meant to ask you 'When is it called love?'. I might be wrong, but if that's what he meant to ask then it does partly explain why he put us in those situations." Nico said, shrugging as nonchalant as possible, but internally going all of the reasons for the god to possibly ask Percy this and then for them to be in those situations and is it- No, Di Angelo, don't think about possibilities when it could just be to show a difference in the types of love? Yeah, that's probably it.

"Oh, yeah," Percy deflated, "I guess that does explain it then." Percy shrugged, looking at Nico helplessly.

"Is that all you wanted to speak about?" Nico asked easily, raising his eyebrows slightly in expectation. For a moment, Percy didn't reply, and simply looked at him; contradictions and hesitation in his eyes.

"Uh- Yeah, that was all. And, I guess, to apologise about this, also."

"No need to, don't worry about it, at least it kept me occupied, at least. And you too no doubt." Nico assures him, before changing topic. "Hey, did you know, I'm part siren." Knowing this would change the topic easily as he hadn't told Percy yet, wasn't planning to either but it looked like he needed it.

"Really?" Percy asked, eyes wide and incredulous.

"Yeah, see my family lines were cursed back when Odysseus was-" and he continued the story as they sat on the beach, allowing their clothes to become practically soaked as they were both too absorbed, telling it even as they walked back to their cabins (as he wanted to include as much of the detail as he could remember before leaving Percy to go sleep in his own cabin).

Once he woke up in the morning, Nico felt great; relaxed and calm, albeit slightly bored at the idea of watching sports all day again, but he tried to ignore that in favour of the idea to watch Percy throw a discus in competition. His arms....Nico sighed dreamily at the thought, before a knock on his door startled him out of his daydream so he could go answer it.

"Hey Grace," he nodded as he saw the son of Jupiter outside, "I'll be one minute, I just gotta get changed." With that he went back inside and donned on fresh everything and made sure his hair didn't look completely awful before walking to breakfast with the company.

"Nico, I need to talk to you." Nico stopped in his tracks. "It's nothing too important, really, I was just wondering, did you go and see any games at all yesterday? Because when I tried to find you after I was done, I couldn't see you or find you anywhere."

Nico looked down, as he carried on walking, guilty and a little ashamed; he had promised he would watch Jason after all.

"I, ah, kinda got bored. Really bored. I'm sorry, you know it's not really my thing and this is the kinda stuff we do day in day out anyway, which made it even more boring to watch, so I went to speak to Apollo with Will and Percy. I feel bad, if it's any consolation. Did you win at least?"

"I came second, to Clarrisse. I was too distracted in my match against her to pay attention when she disarmed me." Jason shrugs, slightly sheepish.

"Oh, that's too bad, I'll speak to you later, yeah?" They'd arrived at the dining pavilion and breakfast is the one meal where the sons of the big three obeyed the seating rules instead of moving. Percy was already there and when he saw Nico he smiled brightly, motioning for him to come over. Despite the fact he usually obeyed their silent agreement to stick to their own tables at breakfast, it surely wouldn't be too bad to just speak to him for thirty seconds.

"Nico! Two things! Well, three, kinda? I don't know, a lot." Percy got an adorably confused expression for a moment when he thought, but shook it off in favour of speaking. "They might take a while so you should sit." Nico looked at Jason warily, trying not to show it, as he looked mildly confused and hurt as Nico spoke to Percy.

"I guess the first thing is that I wanted you to sit," Percy tells him with a hint of shyness, "but I also wanted to ask a couple of things. The first, are you definitely gonna stay and watch me whip everybody's ass in both chariot racing and discus?" Nico laughed lightly at that.

"I'm sure I'll be gripping my seat the entire time in anticipation, Percy." Nico told him while laughing still, before starting to eat the breakfast in front of him. It was blue pancakes, something of a habit and love he shared with Percy ever since trying his mom's nearly a year and a half ago, he just couldn't resist. At least he only ate half as many as Percy, who could wolf down fifteen on a normal day.

"Great," Percy flashed him a cheeky smile and winked, so quick the son of Hades almost missed it. "But I also have a couple of questions to ask about the story you told me last night."

Nico made a 'go ahead' gesture.

"Well, you said that you're one quarter siren, right?" Nico nodded. "Is that why you were able to win your voice back? Because honestly I don't think even Beyonce would be able to do that." Nico rolls his eyes, despite the fact Percy only liked one of her songs, he still went along with most of pop-culture in saying how amazingly talented she is. Nico agrees she's talented, but there's just as great singers out there, so what's the big deal?

"That's what father told me, yes. It was more about unlocking the powers, more so than actually using them I guess?" Nico shrugs. "It just means I never have to sing in front of anyone, like they could force me," he scoffs, "wouldn't want them to become obsessed and fall in love now." Percy stutters in his breathing a little, more at the way he sees Nico savour and relish the bite of blue pancake he was eating then. He rarely does it, but when he does it makes Nico look as delectable as what he presumes the thing he's eating tastes.

"No, no, course not." Percy chuckles weakly, looking away for a moment to breathe before asking his next question. "How did Melinoe do it? Warn them I mean, visit her in her dreams, I wasn't aware it was one of her powers - I always thought that she was a minor underworld goddess of ghosts?" Percy tells him, feeling more confident in himself as he turned to look back at Nico.

"Oh, well, she's a goddess of the underworld, I guess is the only explanation. I mean, you know gods up here can do all sorts of stuff and all their powers sometimes weave in and out of each other? I guess it's kind of like that. She essentially grew up around Hecate and Hypnos and gods like them. They all kind of...share their secrets and how to pull off certain abilities, like controlling the Mist as an example." Nico's face grew twitchy because he didn't have an exact answer, and that annoyed him slightly. It honestly remided Percy of a guinea pig, or a hamster, something of the likes.

"Okay, last question," Percy says.

"Shoot."

"Are you definitely the only descendant of a siren?" Percy asked, more than curious to know.

"As far as I have been told, that the gods are aware, yes. I am the last. As I told you, my anscestor was carrying triplets when she was killed and Eros impregnated Psyche with them, they went on to have their own adventures once they were old enough. They were mostly mortal aside from the cursed siren blood. One of the lines had another couple of generations, but a disease wiped out the whole village and they died before having children. Another managed to last all the way until Victorian England, no idea why that ended, I guess some just do. And then there was my mother's family. There was her, her sister, and her brother. Her brother was gay, so never had children. Her sister, as much as she wished to have children, was infertile and unable to have children. There was hope, once, but the baby was a still-born. My mother had myself and Bianca. Had Bianca survived, or had we not been in the Lotus Casino, or had we remained in Italy back then, then perhaps she would have had children and continued the line for some more generations. But the Fates would not allow it that way, and I am the last with blood of the sirens." Nico said, voice going quiet but strong.

He had recovered at last from Bianca's death, with the help of Percy and Sally, and Jason, Cecil, Lou, Will, Melinoe and Macaria, his father and Persephone. The list could go on still, talking about who helped him to recover the most after the giant's war, but the fact remains that he has recovered and is no longer bitter and mourning. Of course, he will always remember his sister, and he will miss her, but only when it is appropriate. He truly holds nothing against Percy now.

"But won't you have children?" Percy asked, wanting to cover his mouth as soon as the words were out.

"I thought that your previous question was your last?" Nico smirked, Percy felt like drooling in all honesty. "And I also thought you knew I don't like girls?" He raises an eyebrow at that.

"Well, yeah, but you've done so much for the gods too - don't even deny it-" he cut Nico off before he could speak. "The least they could do, in return for all of that, is grant you a child that is biologically both yours and the guy you love's."

"They wouldn't be into granting me any favours, Percy, you know that better than I do." Nico finished off his plate and stood up, unintentionally having Percy follow him up, ready to argue back something else, but Jason came over and interrupted.

"Hey guys, Percy," Percy nods at him, "You ready to go to the arena?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, time to kick some ass." Percy grinned.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine." Nico rolled his eyes at Percy's enthusiasm, he just didn't get the rush of sports. The rush of adrenaline, yes, but it must get boring after a while so what's the point?

For the race, Percy was using Tempest and Blackjack, with Jason's permission and persuasion to the horse. Percy doesn't know what he said, but he agreed and that's the main thing. The pair were quite good friends, and every time Tempest made a comment about him (it was supposedly funny, but really just insulting) Blackjack would snort a laugh and try to hide it before apologising. Percy really didn't care as long as they got along, and did as he told them for the race.

It was starting in twenty minutes but he figured he should groom them and possibly spend time with them, in a non-creepy way, before the race. Talking to them or something. If they didn't appreciate it, then at least he would.

In the stands, Jason and Nico were just getting settled and waiting. Conor and Travis were the ones commentating this game, like other children of Hermes doing the other games, and they were making the pre-race atmosphere friendly and actually entertaining.

"Nico, who do you think will win?" Jason asked, watching him carefully.

"Oh, I'd definitely say Percy. Even without the use of weapons and other dirty tricks from others. If anything that actually boosts him to probably do better as he can focus on the horses and not worry about distractions." Nico says, not really thinking about he gave a proper answer, which made sense and was logically thought out, about a sport. Even if it were chariot racing.

"Actually I meant later, with discus." Jason amends, watching his face carefully.

"Apollo then, he's had the most experience with it." Nico shrugs, that was an easy answer. Apollo walks up to the pair and sits beside Nico then, not getting much of a response as he seemed to expect, before he spoke.

"Should I be offended at that? I'm not, for the record. How's loverboy doing?" he asks Nico easily, as if it were a normal thing to say to him.

"He's doing fine." Nico says, trying to not let the comment effect him considering he's mostly grown used to them now over the past few weeks.

"That's good, good," Apollo nods his head appreciatively before sighing. "I remember the last time I actually enjoyed discus. We were just messing about, me and Hyacinth, and then Zephyr changed the direction and strength of the wind and when I next threw the discus, it struck him down." Apollo gained a grave look on his face. With all of his good lucks and charms, Nico usually forgot that he had been around just as long, if not longer, than most of the other gods. And he had also suffered such loss that pained him. There was something in his bright, crystal blue eyes that showed the pain and suffering. Somewhere amongst the white specs there. It seemed then that he remembered where he was, and who he was supposed to be, so he smiled a wicked smile, as though trying to charm he pants of Nico as he winked (Nico had to check he was still wearing pants, in fact) and he said instead, "But! It's a new millennia, with new competitors, a new audience to impress. This is the time boys, to prepare yourself."

"Actually, I'm not competing." Nico told him, managing somehow to relax in his seat.

"Oh, well at least that means I don't have to see your pretty face all upset when you lose to me." Apollo reached out to pinch one of Nico's cheeks, but he just laughed and batted the hand away. "And you, little brother? Are you competing?" Jason seemed surprised that Apollo actually spoke to him, never mind call him brother.

"Yeah, I kinda...challenged Percy to it. So for us two it's more about the competition between us than actually winning. But I still want to place of course." Jason explained as briefly as he could.

"Ah, well, fair enough. I wish you luck. Though Nico, while I agree with you that I would win, I'm not allowed to place, as we know. So out of your two friends, who do you think is more likely to win?" Apollo smirked as Nico narrowed his eyes at him, cursing his interference with the conversation - Jason would have accepted Apollo as the answer and moved on!

"I don't know, they both have their qualities which would make it possible for either to win." Nico states through slightly gritted teeth.

"Awh, come on! Think about it. The main things you have to consider are strength, accuracy, aim, and I guess if you really wanted to you could say there's math in there to work out an estimate of the perfect angle to throw. Oh, not to mention technique. Do either of the boys have technique? I will say I would very much like to see that, and see how they are taught differently to when I partook in the sport. But, Nico, answer the question."

"I don't know. How am I supposed to know. I was trapped in the underworld while they were all training and stuff. With strength..I'd say Percy, no offence Jason but he has more muscles than you. I mean, his arms are like twice the size when he flexes. Aim, probably Jason. And with accuracy too perhaps. But maybe they're tied for that. Technique is probably Percy though, he always tries to get the flawless technique down no matter what it is." Nico rambles, growing more crimson at the thought of Percy's arms. He shouldn't have gone down that path, mentally.

Jason takes his words to heart, and Apollo looks like he can read Nico's thoughts as, in his mind, he traces down Percy's body, when they last went to the beach in summer and he was shirtless after swimming while Nico had been sat with his feet in an uninhabited rock pool while he read.

Percy, Paul, and Sally were all going to Montauk for ten days, and then Percy got the great idea to invite Nico, since he never really went on a proper holiday. (Since shadow-travelling to counties while doing jobs for his dad didn't apparently count, even if he got to sight-see a little on the way.) So Sally and Percy had loved the idea, as well as somebody to keep him company if they wanted to go out by themselves. ("Not that you're a dog, or a puppy, or anything dear, we just don't want to feel bad leaving him alone quite honestly, and he's right, you should go on a proper holiday and it will be very nice and relaxing, I promise you.")

So he'd gone. He just didn't know why he hadn't expected the son of the sea god to want to go swimming (while he didn't want to). But then for him to walk over to Nico all bright sun-shining smiles as the sun was setting in the background, hair dripping wet with a towel around his neck, not really catching any of the dropets over his body either. The water was running down his chest and abs, making them glisten in the light, and down his toned, tanned arms which were flexing just as he chose to then dry his hair by rubbing it over with the towel causing him to stretch a little too.

Long story short he dropped his book in the pool as Percy spoke, and Percy was to blame.

With the knowing smirk that Apollo was giving him, he definitely could read minds.

Luckily for Nico the race was starting then. It was ten laps around the arena, and the first one (sometimes the only one) to cross the finish line, won. Naturally. This, again, is something that Percy came first in. Nico did deem it slightly unfair considering his father created horses. Percy stuck his tongue out at him whenever he said it. Clarrisse said the same thing after the race, at least Nico assumes from the way Percy stuck his tongue out at her in the same way when Nico said it.

There were twenty five chariots taking part, there were more at first but they backed out when they would all be in the same race, because they didn't want to get hurt so badly. Mostly it was Ares, Hephaestus, Apollo, and a couple of the Aphrodite kids that took part. A couple more cabins were dotted in, but not many. Leo, surprisingly, came in third, just a second after Clarrisse. In that moment Nico was more proud of Leo than he was Percy, simply because he had heard from Jason just how much time he was putting in to make his horses. Percy just had a natural talent which just so happened to pay off in this case.

Next was Javelin, and most people stayed to watch this too. Mostly consisting of Apollo kids, but also Ares, Hermes, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and more. This had more variety to it, but it was primarily the kids that used spears when fighting, Nico noticed. That made sense, then.

This was more boring, simply because there was no action happening like chariot-bashing, the only form of aggression or weaponry allowed, but no spikes on wheels or hidden compartments et cetera.

Percy had come back not long after the race but after sitting down for most of the rest of the competition, he and Jason left to get ready for discus. With Apollo too, who walked in front of the pair while they bickered and pushed each other behind him. Before turning to leave, he said to Nico, "Don't worry, it'll be fine." And coming from the god of prophecy that didn't exactly sound great, especially considering he doesn't know what situation he's referring to. Nico just looked away from them and tried to not fall asleep. Easier said than done. He managed it, but not without a couple of moments where he almost dozed off. They moved out, and the discus competitors lined up alphabetical order by last names. Jason and Percy were talking to the others, but otherwise ignoring each other mostly, though they both looked up at him and smiled, so he smiled back and gave a small wave.

Discus was just as boring and uneventful as javelin, and like most other sports in Nico's opinion still. Apollo went first, of course, and most of the girls and guys in the arena swooned at him and he looked up and sent a smile to the whole crowd, winking at Nico. Okay, well, he couldn't know that the wink was definitely for him but they made eye contact and it was maintained for at least 2.34 seconds before Apollo winked. Nico blushed but otherwise ignored it and him. Still, he was the best.

Nico was sat, basically, directly in front of where the people were to throw the discus. He started to yawn more though as the goes went on. Everybody got three throws and their best would be their final. It was hardly onto the fourth person before he decided he couldn't handle it anymore and would go back to his cabin. He didn't care if he hadn't stayed for Jason and Percy because they could just tell him about it later.

For some reason he found it a little tricky to get out of the arena, not really having to step past so many people since he was a the back and it was virtually empty, but there were no shadows for him to use to shadow travel. So he was stuck either climbing down the outside or being incredibly awkward and asking for rows of people to move.

Climbing down the outside it was then!

It wasn't that bad, in hindsight, he only had slight shock to his ankles as he dropped the last couple of metres. It could have been worse. Instead he just goes to the infirmary to see how Will is and keep him company. Which is going great, until Jake arrives to do the same thing for Will - who is his sweet and loving boyfriend that will ruthlessly kick out his friends if it means being alone together. Jake does mention though, as as afterthought, that he was just at the arena and watching for a couple of minutes, but Percy seemed irritated and maybe he should go and show his face just for moral support?

Ah. So they had noticed he left. Well it serves them right for picking such a boring sport to compete against each other in. Still, he does go, and stand at the opening to the arena just as Percy is about to make his first shot. He moves, slightly, at the doorway, so it's more like he's about to walk into the stands but he just stands there instead. Percy was looking down in concentration, and as soon as he looked up to see Nico, his eyes flashed with relief and he very clearly released a breath. With that, he got in position, and threw. It wasn't a bad one, but obviously not the best he could do, so Nico raised an eyebrow in challenge as Percy looked at him and the other demigod raised one back in acceptance.

This one was better. But now Jason had caught sight of him, and the exchange, and looked even more hurt than this morning. Nico shrugged and smiled sheepishly in small apology, promising to himself he would later apologise properly. But Jason's face hardened, like he had an idea but also saying that he didn't need Nico's apology, and he watched as Percy prepared to throw again.

The wind picked up then, and Percy hadn't accounted for it as he had thrown, it having already left his grip. It went further, surprisingly, but the course was off and Jason's face looking panicked was the last thing he saw before being knocked out cold by the clay discus.

When Nico woke up, it was because he was being force fed an ambrosia square by Apollo, who was making stupid baby faces and baby noises as he tried to coax him into opening his mouth. Nico would have laughed, but the pain in his head when he sat up properly stopped him, so he just took the square and ate it himself. He drank his nectar too, not really paying attention to the taste.

"Well as dramatic as that was, I saw flashbacks of my own life you know, you should be good to go after you've had rest for an hour or two." Apollo tells him, but he just nods. "You know, he didn't intend to hurt you."

"Course not." There was bitterness but regret in Nico's voice.

"Truly, he was blubbering the most out of anybody and loverboy had to smack him upside the head to make him shut up." Apollo laughed slightly. "He meant no harm by it, it was just a spur of the moment thing, you know? I do think however my story may have influenced how he acted. As long as he apologizes you'll be all healed and patched up." Apollo pats him on the head condescendingly. Nico glares. "Okay, okay, I'm going. There's still an hour until the bonfire, so if you choose to go then be careful and don't do anything stupid."

"Oh I wouldn't dream of it." Nico says drily.

"Yes, yes, of course not. Tell them all I said goodbye, would you, I hate goodbyes too much to even give a proper one." With a blinding flash, which Nico remembered to cover his eyes for, he was gone, leaving a note at the side of his bed with a lolly pop saying "Get well soon! :)". Nico sat and sulked as he ate the lolly pop, his head hurting too much for him to even want to leave.

Jason came in not too long later.

"Nico I am so so so so so unbelievably sorry! I don't know what came over me! All I was thinking was how of course you left before mine but came back just in time to see his and then I remembered Apollo's story about Zephyr changing the winds to change how the discus flew but I didn't expect it to end in the same way even though it didn't but it kinda did," Jason finally took a deep breath, but then continued, "and I want you to know I am so terribly sorry for that, please forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive. It's a little bump on the head, Jason, I didn't get speared by a monster. I shouldn't have left before yours and come back to his. I wan't planning to come back, but Jake told me that Percy was sulking so I wanted to see. Sorry." Nico shrugs, though he's sincere with his apology.

"Okay, well, I have to go see Leo now, he has to show me something, I'll see you at the campfire?" Jason asked.

"Sure." Nico smiled. Just as Jason was about to leave, Percy entered with a "Hey man," to Jason before sitting down in the chair beside Nico's bed and propping his feet up on the bed, to Nico's amusement.

"How're you?" he asks simply

"Fine, and you?" Nico responds. The air feels heavy, awkward, Percy wants to say something.

"I've been thinking," Percy starts, taking his feet down.

"Oh, here we go." Nico rolls his eyes with a teasing smile, who smiles back nervously, so Nico drops the smile because this is serious. "Carry on."

"I think. Well. What you said about what Cupid apparently told me - when is it called love? - in Italian, and I was actually, genuinely putting a lot of thought into it and-" Percy cut himself off.

"And?" Nico encouraged.

"And I realised it's called love when I look at you when you're with me, and my mom, and Paul, and it feels perfect." Nico blushed immediately, but said nothing so Percy continued. "Like, how when you talk so passionately about something, I actually listen and pay attention instead of getting caught up in your eyes because this means something, so much, to you, and I care about that." Nico could feel his heart melting, or was that the after effects of ambrosia and nectar? "I call it love when I look at you because no matter where you go, I'll be right where you need me. No matter what. It's looking at you and seeing galaxies in your eyes, but wanting to stay by your side to explore the known universe together. It's called love, when I love you, Nico di Angelo."

Nico didn't know what else to do. His entire brain had shut down and he couldn't form a coherent response. He leaned to the side, ignoring the pain in his head as he moved forward to press his lips firmly against Percy's own, moving them and feeling Percy move his too. Percy tasted slightly of seasalt, but mostly of fresh apples (a snack he had earlier) and sugar (because one has to have sugar every so often). There's something else; something distinctly...Percy. But Nico doesn't care to find out now, when he can be doing this - kissing Percy - at some other time as well.

"I love you, too, Perseus Jackson." He murmurs against his lips. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Was it okay? Pleeeeease leave comments and kudos if you liked it??? A couple of things I should mention, probably (you don't have to read them if you don't want, there's kind of a lot):
> 
> *The song, that Nico was starting to sing, was "I won't say I'm in love" from Hercules, but it's in Italian because I figured Eros may be just slightly sympathetic towards Nico, so gave it him in Italian because Percy would never understand it like that. To get the translation I looked up a subbed Italian version and copied them as accurately as I could, but please tell me if I'm wrong if I made a mistake. 
> 
> *The story about Melinoe and the daughter of the siren and all of that is made up, obviously, I wanted to make Nico part siren and then I figured I should explain that part of the plot so I made it up. Melinoe and Macaria are daughters of Hades and Persephone in the myths though, Macaria is the minor goddess of Blessed Death, kinda the opposite of Thanatos, and Melinoe is minor goddess of ghosts, as said in the story. 
> 
> *I have no idea if the translation of "when is it called love?" is accurate, so please tell me if it is/isn't ((I deliberately made Nico question his uncertainty of it for that reason)) 
> 
> *Jason is quite ooc I admit, but I wanted to make him both a little jealous and a mother hen and I wasn't quite sure how to do it but I hope it wasn't too bad? 
> 
> *All the tasks, except one, were based on actual myths -- Princess Andromeda was chained to a rock on sacrifice but was rescued by Perseus, Orpheus had to rescue his love from the Underworld but he looked behind him and so she was trapped there forever, the getting his voice back from a siren was inspired by The Little Mermaid, quite honestly, except kind of in reverse? And then the Apollo and Zephyr fighting over Hyncinth was Jason and Percy, though it was more just Jason being annoyed at Percy and Nico and acting but yeah. 
> 
> Okay, if you have any other questions then leave them below, but thank you for reading!


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